Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!hacgate!ashtate!dbase!awd
From: awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: dbase error level programmining
Summary: ERROR() and MESSAGE() are dBASE functions
Keywords: Dbase, error programming
Message-ID: <161@dbase.UUCP>
Date: 14 Jul 89 20:34:36 GMT
References: <7915@cs.Buffalo.EDU>
Distribution: na
Organization: Ashton Tate Devlopment Center Glendale, Calif.
Lines: 13


ERROR() and MESSAGE() are dBASE functions.  ERROR() returns the number of
the dBASE error and MESSAGE() returns a character string describing it.
In your code fragment, you specifically check for 5, which is "Record 
out of range" meaning that the program has attempted to read a record
beyond the end of file.  Scanning through the database one record at a
time will usually produce error #4, End of file encountered, rather than
#5, which is produced when some impossible record number is used in,
for example, a GOTO statement.

Hope it helps.

/alastair/